Ex-Metra CEO Alex Clifford might have had a duty to report to authorities the pressure he felt from House Speaker Michael Madigan and others to promote and hire certain workers. Madigan writes laws and doesn't break them.

Taxpayers who are footing the bills want to know and trust that people are being hired on skill and merit, period. That they're being given promotions based on performance. And too often in Illinois government it does work that way.

Public scrutiny may have given the alderman a change of heart regarding charter schools. This was not the first time his education policy preferences caused a backlash. This time, Moreno may have actually gotten the message.

Some years ago a friend of mine, a weary veteran of Trying to Do Things in Chicago, was working with the city on a building project, and boxing with the usual shadows. He told me something that stuck with me.